My breath catches. “I?—”
“When I touch you...” he continues, his voice dropping an octave into a rough whisper. “...what do you feel?”
Everything.
Fire.
Need.
Terror.
Fucking alive.
Rather than answer, I duck under the water, hoping the water will mask the heat burning in my cheeks. When I resurface, Ryder is still close enough for our knees to brush under the water.
“Running away again?” he asks softly.
“I wasn’t running. I was... ducking.”
His laugh is low and rough. “Same thing.”
As much as I want to argue, I know he’s right. I’ve been running from real feelings my entire adult life. It’s easier to write about passion than to let yourself feel it. Safer to create fictional men who can’t disappoint me than to risk my heart with someone real.
“You know what I think?” Ryder reaches up and pushes a wet strand of hair away from my forehead before grazing his knuckles against my cheek.
“What?” I can barely breathe.
“I think, somehow, you brought me here because you were tired of playing it safe. Your subconscious knew what you needed, even if you aren’t ready to admit it.”
“And what’s that?”
He reaches up and traces his thumb along my bottom lip, making me shiver despite the heat. “Someone who won’t run. Someone who’ll fight for you. Someone who will make you feel everything you’ve ever been afraid to feel.”
The air between us crackles with electricity. His thumbcontinues to trace my bottom lip slowly back and forth, making every nerve ending in my body scream for more.
“This is crazy,” I murmur. “You’re just a character from my barely written book.”
“And yet.” His eyes drop to my mouth. “Here we are.”
I should move away. Slide back to my side of the pool and put some distance between us. But my body refuses to listen to reason.
Instead, I find myself drifting closer, drawn by some magnetic force I can’t explain.
He breathes my name like a prayer. “Noia.”
“Yes?”
“Tell me you want this.”
“Honestly?” I swallow hard. “I think I do.”
TWELVE
ryder
Her words hitme like a bolt of lightning, lighting up my veins, sending all the blood in my head rushing straight to my cock. I can see the way her pulse flutters at the base of her throat, pupils dilating as she holds my gaze.
“That’s not good enough, kitten,” I murmur, my thumb still tracing the curve of her bottom lip. “I need you to be sure.”
